Smart Meters (AMI) Market Analysis by Mordor Intelligence
The smart meters (AMI) market size in terms of shipment volume is expected to grow from 173.29 million units in 2025 to 257.62 million units by 2030, advancing at an 8.25% CAGR. Government-mandated deployment schedules, rising grid-resilience priorities, and edge-computing advances jointly sustain the expansion of the smart meters AMI market. Utilities accelerate capital spending, and regulators increasingly define smart metering as critical infrastructure, reducing the time between approval and rollout. At the same time, edge-AI functionality embedded in next-generation devices enables real-time analytics that improve outage response, demand forecasting, and distributed energy resource integration. Intensifying cybersecurity investments, global chip-supply diversification, and vendor efforts to bundle hardware with analytics software further propel market momentum.
Key Report Takeaways
- By product, Smart Electricity Meters led with 53.7% of smart meters AMI market share in 2024; Smart Water Meters are forecast to grow at an 8.7% CAGR through 2030.
- By communication technology, RF-Mesh held 55.9% of the market in 2024, while NB-IoT/Cellular solutions are set to expand at a 9.2% CAGR.
- By component, Hardware accounted for a 32.5% share of the smart meters AMI market size in 2024; Software is expected to register the fastest 10.1% CAGR to 2030.
- By end-user, the Residential segment commanded 42.1% of deployments in 2024, whereas Industrial applications are projected to advance at a 9.5% CAGR.
- By region, Asia Pacific dominated with 25.5% revenue share in 2024, and the Middle East and Africa represent the fastest-growing area with a 10.6% CAGR.
Global Smart Meters (AMI) Market Trends and Insights
Drivers Impact Analysis
| Driver | ( ~ ) % Impact on CAGR Forecast | Geographic Relevance | Impact Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government mandates and regulatory push | +2.1% | Global; early gains in Australia, North America, EU | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Rising investments in grid modernisation | +1.8% | North America and EU, Asia-Pacific core expansion | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| Utility efficiency and loss-reduction needs | +1.5% | Global; concentrated in emerging markets | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Smart-city and IoT infrastructure expansion | +1.2% | Asia-Pacific core; spill-over to MEA | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Carbon-accounting and ESG compliance needs | +0.9% | North America and EU; expanding globally | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| Edge-AI analytics enabling new services | +0.7% | North America; selective Asia-Pacific markets | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| Source: Mordor Intelligence | |||
Government Mandates and Regulatory Push
Mandatory deployment rules transform meters from optional upgrades into compulsory grid assets. Australia’s National Electricity Market now requires 100% smart meter coverage by 2030, eliminating opt-out provisions after June 2025 and ensuring universal visibility across low-voltage networks.[1]Australian Energy Market Commission, “National Electricity Market Smart Meter Reforms,” aemc.gov.au Similar mandates surface across several U.S. states, shifting cost-benefit debates toward implementation logistics and creating predictable demand for vendors.
Rising Investments in Grid Modernisation
Utility capital programs reach record levels, underscored by FirstEnergy’s USD 26 billion Energize365 plan running through 2028, which bundles smart meters with distribution automation, cybersecurity, and renewable integration infrastructure.[2]FirstEnergy Corp, “Energize365 Capital Plan Overview,” firstenergycorp.com These multiphase projects compress rollouts into five-year windows, supporting sustained equipment and software revenues for the smart meters AMI market.
Utility Efficiency and Loss-Reduction Needs
Operational metrics improve once remote reads replace manual visits. DTE Energy eliminated 76,000 truck rolls and realised USD 1 million in yearly savings after its smart grid deployment, demonstrating rapid payback through lower operating overhead. Emerging-market utilities trim non-technical losses by over 40% using tamper detection and real-time data analytics.
Smart-City and IoT Infrastructure Expansion
Municipal digitalisation projects converge electricity, water, and gas networks onto shared IoT backbones, yielding economies of scale and data synergies. KNX Association lighthouse projects reveal that unified platforms lower total cost of ownership while enhancing service reliability.[3]Itron Inc, “Itron and NVIDIA Bring AI to the Grid Edge,” itron.com
Restraints Impact Analysis
| Restraint | ( ~ ) % Impact on CAGR Forecast | Geographic Relevance | Impact Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| High upfront cost and long payback | -1.4% | Emerging markets; smaller utilities globally | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Cyber-security and data-privacy risks | -1.1% | Global; heightened in North America & EU | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Legacy-grid integration complexity | -0.8% | North America & EU; aging infrastructure regions | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Chip-supply volatility delays roll-outs | -0.6% | Global; supply-chain-dependent regions | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Source: Mordor Intelligence | |||
High Upfront Cost and Long Payback
Smaller utilities face capital hurdles: Public Service Company of New Mexico budgets USD 188 million for 500,000 meters, translating to USD 375 per endpoint including communications and installation. Where tariff recovery is uncertain, boards delay projects or adopt phased rollouts.
Cyber-Security and Data-Privacy Risks
IEEE Access research confirms exploitable firmware vulnerabilities in several commercial meters, prompting regulators to mandate penetration testing and end-to-end encryption. Compliance raises integration costs and lengthens procurement cycles. The interconnected nature of smart meter networks means that security breaches can cascade across entire service territories, creating systemic risks that traditional isolated meters cannot generate. Utilities must invest in additional cybersecurity infrastructure and ongoing monitoring capabilities that increase total cost of ownership beyond initial meter procurement and installation expenses.
Segment Analysis
By Product Type: Electricity Leads, Water Accelerates
Smart Electricity Meters hold 53.7% of the smart meters AMI market share in 2024, underpinning large-scale demand response programs and distributed generation integration. The segment remains central to most regulatory mandates, ensuring continued volume dominance. Smart Gas Meters follow, supported by leak-detection and safety imperatives in dense urban areas. Smart Water Meters register the fastest 8.7% CAGR because utilities combat non-revenue water losses that in some regions surpass 30%. The smart meters AMI market size for water applications is projected to expand steadily as drought-prone districts adopt continuous monitoring to enforce usage caps.
Water utilities see immediate revenue recovery when analytics expose inaccuracies; an Atlanta pilot saved over USD 1 million using AI-based meter diagnostics, showcasing how edge analytics foster rapid return on investment for the smart meters AMI industry. Multi-utility deployments leveraging a single communications backbone further lift project economics, allowing electricity, gas, and water meters to share gateways and data platforms.
Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase
By Communication Technology: Cellular Momentum Builds
RF-Mesh retains 55.9% adoption in 2024, valued for self-healing topology and high packet redundancy, particularly in dense metropolises. Yet NB-IoT and other cellular approaches are forecast to grow at 9.2% annually as nationwide 5G builds unlock low-latency, high-bandwidth channels for real-time power-quality data. The smart meters AMI market benefits from telecom operators’ spectrum holdings and backhaul infrastructure, enabling utilities to avoid expensive private network rollouts.
Cellular solutions also support remote firmware updates and secure over-the-air key management, elements crucial to grid-edge cybersecurity. As IoT device density climbs, advanced spectrum management and network slicing optimise traffic prioritisation, preventing congestion and safeguarding metering performance. These capabilities encourage utilities to shift upcoming tenders towards hybrid or fully cellular architectures in the smart meters AMI industry.
By Component: Software Surges on Analytics Demand
Hardware commands a 32.5% position in 2024 because meters and network infrastructure represent the initial investment tranche. Nonetheless, software registers a 10.1% CAGR as utilities recognise that value now lies in insight generation rather than data collection alone. The smart meters AMI market size for analytics platforms is set to grow with the move toward distributed intelligence, enabling grid-edge event detection that bypasses central servers.
Itron’s collaboration with NVIDIA illustrates this realignment; by equipping devices with AI accelerators, the company pivots from hardware sales to subscription-based analytics services. Parallel growth in managed services covers system integration, cybersecurity monitoring, and ongoing firmware support, indicating an expanding services layer that underpins the smart meters AMI market.
Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase
By End-User: Industrial Use Cases Command Premiums
Residential customers collectively account for 42.1% of total installations in 2024 thanks to mandated mass rollouts and standardised device specifications. Commercial sites sit between residential and industrial needs, requiring interval data and demand management for mid-scale loads. Industrial facilities are predicted to grow at 9.5% CAGR as plant managers pursue granular power-quality insights to meet ISO 50001 energy-management guidelines.
Case evidence from an automotive manufacturer in Pakistan shows 8% energy savings after installing intelligent meters integrated with production equipment telemetry. Because industrial endpoints demand higher precision and support complex tariff structures, average revenue per meter is materially larger, lifting overall profitability for vendors within the smart meters AMI market.
Geography Analysis
Asia-Pacific contributes 25.5% of global deployments in 2024, anchored by China’s state-directed rollouts, India’s national smart-grid roadmap, and Japan’s post-Fukushima reforms. Mainland China alone has surpassed 700 million cumulative smart meter installations, benefiting from central procurement mechanisms that reduce unit costs and guarantee widespread interoperability. India’s programme emphasises loss reduction and pre-payment functionality, bringing immediate cash-flow benefits to distribution companies.
The Middle East and Africa present the highest regional CAGR at 10.6% through 2030. Gulf Cooperation Council utilities leverage oil revenues to finance smart-city projects, bundling AMI with district-cooling and rooftop solar schemes, while South African and Kenyan regulators use smart metering to curb theft and widen prepaid adoption. Vendor financing and public-private partnership models gain traction where sovereign budgets are tight.
Competitive Landscape
The competitive arena remains moderately fragmented. Landis+Gyr, Itron, and Siemens offer end-to-end portfolios spanning meters, head-end systems, and data analytics, enabling utilities to source integrated solutions under a single contract. Meanwhile, Badger Meter and Kamstrup focus on water applications, while Schneider Electric and General Electric embed AMI within broader grid-automation suites.
Strategic alliances increasingly centre on software differentiation. Itron’s Grid Edge Intelligence platform, created with NVIDIA, pushes AI processing onto the device, reducing latency and cloud-hosting fees and positioning the company for subscription-based revenue streams . Landis+Gyr elevates services to 24% of total turnover, signalling a pivot toward recurring income models that offset hardware commoditisation. FirstEnergy’s vendor framework short-lists suppliers that demonstrate robust cybersecurity compliance and interoperability certification, favouring players with ISO 27001 and DLMS COSEM endorsements.
New entrants exploit niche capabilities. Cybersecurity specialists provide threat-detection engines explicitly tuned to meter protocols, while edge-database vendors such as MongoDB partner with hardware manufacturers to embed lightweight data stores. Regional manufacturers in India and the Middle East leverage cost-competitive production and local-content rules to penetrate tenders traditionally dominated by multinational incumbents.
Smart Meters (AMI) Industry Leaders
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Landis+Gyr Group AG
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Itron Inc.
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Sensus USA Inc. (Xylem Inc.)
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Honeywell (Elster Group)
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Kamstrup A/S
- *Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order
Recent Industry Developments
- March 2025: WeaveGrid partnered with Emporia Energy to synchronise residential EV charging with renewable availability through utility-managed programmes.
- March 2025: Itron introduced NVIDIA-powered AI extensions to its Grid Edge Intelligence portfolio, delivering on-device fault detection and resilience functions.
- February 2025: Badger Meter reported Q4 2024 sales of USD 205.2 million, citing BlueEdge cellular AMI momentum and SmartCover sewer-monitoring acquisition.
- January 2025: Itron and Norgesnett began the first Nordic grid-edge compute rollout with 10,000 distributed-intelligence endpoints enabling sub-second voltage analytics.
Research Methodology Framework and Report Scope
Market Definitions and Key Coverage
Our study defines the smart meter market as utility-owned electronic meters that record electricity, gas, or water usage in preset intervals and transmit data through two-way networks to the utility head-end for billing, analytics, and remote service actions. We cover factory-built meters that follow ANSI C12, DLMS/COSEM, or equivalent protocols and integrate RF-Mesh, PLC, cellular NB-IoT, or similar communication modules.
Devices used only for building sub-metering, retrofit communication add-ons, and electromechanical meters without digital telemetry are excluded.
Segmentation Overview
- By Product Type
- Smart Electricity Meters
- Smart Gas Meters
- Smart Water Meters
- By Communication Technology
- RF-Mesh
- Cellular (2G/3G/4G/5G/NB-IoT)
- Others
- By Component
- Hardware
- Software
- Services
- By End-User
- Residential
- Commercial
- Industrial and Utilities
- By Region
- North America
- United States
- Canada
- Mexico
- South America
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Rest of South America
- Europe
- Germany
- United Kingdom
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Russia
- Rest of Europe
- Asia-Pacific
- China
- Japan
- India
- South Korea
- Australia and New Zealand
- Southeast Asia
- Rest of Asia-Pacific
- Middle East and Africa
- Middle East
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates
- Turkey
- Rest of Middle East
- Africa
- South Africa
- Nigeria
- Egypt
- Rest of Africa
- Middle East
- North America
Detailed Research Methodology and Data Validation
Primary Research
We spoke with distribution utilities across Asia Pacific, module suppliers in Europe, and regulators in North America. Those conversations clarified annual procurement plans, average selling prices, favored communication stacks, and looming policy tweaks, letting us cross-verify secondary numbers.
Desk Research
We gathered baseline figures by tapping freely available datasets from the International Energy Agency, Eurostat's rollout dashboard, the US EIA advanced metering file, India's RDSS tender portal, and trade tallies linked to HS codes. Our team also reviewed tariff filings, utility annual reports, and policy briefs, while D&B Hoovers, Dow Jones Factiva alerts, and Questel patent counts helped benchmark producer capacity and technology shifts. This list is illustrative; many additional sources underpinned data checks and clarifications.
A second pass compared regional adoption ratios with customs shipment trends and manufacturer disclosures, allowing us to spot gaps early.
Market-Sizing & Forecasting
The 2024 installed base was rebuilt through a top-down meter penetration audit against grid connections, then validated by selective bottom-up shipment samples from leading vendors. Key inputs include new service connections, mandated replacement cycles, chipset import volumes, typical meter life, and observed ASP drift. A multivariate regression links connection growth and policy scores to project 2025-2030 demand, while scenario analysis cushions chip-supply swings. Where supplier samples under-cover a region, interpolation is constrained by historical penetration ceilings.
Data Validation & Update Cycle
Variance dashboards flag anomalies over three percentage points, prompting re-contact of respondents before sign-off. Mordor analysts refresh every study each year and issue interim tweaks when major tenders or mandates surface.
Why Mordor's Smart Meters (AMI) Baseline Commands Reliability
Published estimates often diverge because firms alternate between unit and revenue metrics, widen scope to software, or carry forward assumptions for years. We update yearly and stay disciplined on metric choice, which keeps our figures grounded.
Key gap drivers include metric selection (Mordor reports unit shipments), inclusion of aftermarket upgrades elsewhere, differing ASP curves, and slower refresh cadence among other publishers.
Benchmark comparison
| Market Size | Anonymized source | Primary gap driver |
|---|---|---|
| 173.29 million units (2025) | Mordor Intelligence | - |
| USD 26.36 billion (2024) | Global Consultancy A | Revenue metric that folds in software and services, five-year refresh |
| USD 27.70 billion (2024) | Regional Consultancy B | Limited country sample, no utility primary checks |
| USD 32.57 billion (2024) | Industry Journal C | Aggressive policy scenario, flat ASP assumption |
The comparison shows that by anchoring scope, variables, and yearly validation, Mordor Intelligence delivers a balanced, transparent baseline clients can trust for planning and investment decisions.
Key Questions Answered in the Report
How big is the Smart Meters Market?
The Smart Meters Market size is expected to reach 174.31 million units in 2025 and grow at a CAGR of 8.14% to reach 257.78 million units by 2030.
What is the current Smart Meters Market size?
In 2025, the Smart Meters Market size is expected to reach 174.31 million units.
Who are the key players in Smart Meters Market?
AEM, Aichi Tokei Denki Co., Ltd., Apator SA, Arad Group and Azbil Kimmon Co. Ltd are the major companies operating in the Smart Meters Market.
Which is the fastest growing region in Smart Meters Market?
Asia Pacific is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR over the forecast period (2025-2030).
Which region has the biggest share in Smart Meters Market?
In 2025, the Asia Pacific accounts for the largest market share in Smart Meters Market.
What years does this Smart Meters Market cover, and what was the market size in 2024?
In 2024, the Smart Meters Market size was estimated at 160.12 million units. The report covers the Smart Meters Market historical market size for years: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The report also forecasts the Smart Meters Market size for years: 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030.
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